The Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction – or BBNJ – came into force in January 2026, after two decades of international negotiations. Immediately after the text was finalized in March 2023, 145 countries signed the document that came to be known as the High Seas Treaty, including Brazil.

To come into effect, the accord needed ratification by at least 60 countries to become valid 120 days later. In Brazil, Congress approved the pact on December 16, 2025, but even before that, in September, 60 other countries had already confirmed their adherence.

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As of the publication of this story, 84 countries had ratified the agreement, according to the global network of social organizations High Seas Alliance. But why does this international treaty on a common good outside the territories of countries arouse so much interest?

Ana Paula Prates, director of the Department of Ocean and Coastal Management at Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, says that although other international treaties establish rules for marine biodiversity conservation, they mainly cover national territories, while this is the first to comprehensively address international waters, which represent two-thirds of the planet’s oceans.

“This integrated approach was necessary because everything that happens in international waters also affects our jurisdictional waters – whether it’s biopiracy, the environmental impacts of enterprises such as deep-sea trawling, or even plastic,” she pointed out.

Living beings

With a total area of over 360 million km² and depths exceeding 10 km, the oceans play a key role in balancing the planet’s temperature. They produce more than half of the oxygen necessary for life and are home to a vast biodiversity. Approximately 64 percent of this enormous expanse comprises the high seas, beyond national jurisdictions.

“By getting to know it better and conducting environmental impact studies of human activities in this area, we have the possibility of improving the protection and conservation of this biodiversity, which is by far the most important for the maintenance of life on earth,” says Andrei Polejack, director of research and innovation at the National Institute for Oceanic Research (INPO), a social organization dedicated to ocean research and development.

The text of the High Seas Treaty deals with guidelines and global governance for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the high seas. It is based on four pillars:

• the creation of marine protected areas in international waters;
• assessment of economic activities in terms of environmental impact;
• the sharing of benefits from genetic resources; and
• technology transfer and capacity building.

In practice, any activity carried out on the high seas will be subject to the rules of the agreement, as the treaty is binding, thus becoming a legal obligation imposed on participating countries. “It will not be up to each country, each company, or their respective countries [to decide]. For example, deep-sea trawling – which is something that happens too often and no one knows where – will now have to be assessed jointly with these countries [that have joined the treaty],” Ana Paula Prates states.

To operate in these regions, the nations will also need to better understand the biodiversity on the high seas, through investments in science and technology such as deep-sea submersibles and genetic mapping of the fauna and the flora there.

Benefits

“We have a wonderful opportunity to find new resources for medicines, cosmetics, and other solutions. But this will have to be evaluated jointly, and the benefits will have to be shared among all ratifying countries. Similarly, another controversial issue that will have to be negotiated is the establishment of marine protected areas,” the representative of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment said.

The idea is that when there is doubt about the capacity to conserve and maintain the balance of a given ecosystem and the species in it, the region should be protected, with measures ranging from assessing the impacts of human activities to be carried out in the area to the creation of marine protected areas.

“This is a process that adopts some principles of international law, which are binding in this treaty – like the precautionary approach, which states that if we do not know exactly what the impact will be, then it is better to suspend activities,” Polejack noted.

High Seas COP

With the treaty now in force, only countries that have ratified it will be able to participate in the establishment of the institutions, operational rules, and processes necessary for the agreement to become operational. The first talks for the creation of these instruments are expected to take place at the Conferences of the Parties (COP) to the High Seas Treaty.

Even before this stage, when the agreement was signed by the countries interested in participating, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) set up a preparatory commission tasked with choosing a country to host the secretariat and other institutions – such as the scientific and technical body – as well as establishing the financial structure and rules for decision-making.

Two meetings were held in April and August 2025, and a third is scheduled to take place in March 2026 at the United Nations headquarters in New York. “At this [meeting], we will be able to decide where the secretariat will be located – which is already under dispute. Belgium has come forward, as have Chile and now China. All three are candidates. We should also set the date for the first COP,” Ana Paula Prates said.

Advantages

Still according to Polejack’s assessment, Brazil has much to contribute with all the diplomatic and scientific knowledge developed in other international treaties – such as those created at ECO92 in Rio de Janeiro, which deal with climate, biodiversity, and desertification. He also considers it important to hold debates on the social and collective interests of the people.

“This work must be based on scientific evidence and must consider the balance between the uses of this biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, on the high seas, but it must also distribute the benefits generated. So, there’s a huge number of details. It’s a complex agreement, and it really needs all voices together,” he concluded.

The Munich District Court in Germany has scheduled three hearings in the lawsuit filed by 1,400 victims of the collapse of Vale’s dam in Brumadinho, in Minas Gerais state. The purpose of the lawsuit is to establish the liability of TÜV SÜD AG, which is headquartered in the city. The hearings are scheduled for May 26 and 28.

On the initiative of residents of the municipalities of Brumadinho and Mário Campos, the lawsuit seeks civil liability from the company as well as compensation estimated at BRL 3.2 billion.

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• Brumadinho dam collapse: 23 thousand compensation deals inked.

The victims are represented by the law firm Pogust Goodhead, which also defended the rights of victims of the 2015 collapse of Samarco’s Fundão dam in Mariana, also in Minas Gerais, seeking compensation from the shareholder, the Anglo-Australian mining company BHP.

TÜV SÜD AG is the company called upon to respond for controlling Tüv Süd Bureau de Projetos e Consultoria LTDA, its subsidiary in Brazil hired to assess whether the structure was compromised and posed any risk.

When contacted by Agência Brasil, TÜV SÜD AG maintained that it “has no legal responsibility for the dam collapse” and that an inspection carried out by authorities in November 2018, three months before the socio-environmental crime, confirmed the soundness of the structure, as attested in a report.

“The issuance of stability statements by TÜV SÜD Bureau was legitimate and in accordance with applicable legislation and technical standards. The dam was stable at the time of the stability statements,” the German holding company argued.

The victims claim that the Córrego do Feijão mine dam was in poor condition, falling well below international standards. A total of 272 people died in the tragedy.

Crime

In the view of the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB), the case should be remembered as a crime, not as an inevitable tragedy or disaster. Movement members claim there was deliberate negligence on the part of the mining company Vale and the German certifier.

In Brazil, only now – seven years after the dam collapse – will a federal criminal court of Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais, begin preliminary hearings, on February 23. The first phase of the process will determine whether the defendants will go to trial by jury. The testimony of victims, witnesses, and defendants should continue until May 2027.

As it stands today, 15 individuals are facing criminal charges for the crime. Eleven are former directors, managers, and engineers at Vale, and four are employees of TÜV SÜD.

In both cases, the defendants may be punished for aggravated murder with possible intent – i.e., when the risk of death is assumed.

In the complaint submitted to Munich prosecutors, employees of the German holding company may also be convicted of crimes of negligence leading to flooding and corruption.